


but you like her better (wish i were heather)

by fowlbyname45



Series: Draco Malfoy reader inserts [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Light Angst, One Shot, Slytherin Reader, Song: Heather (Conan Gray), Songfic, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:29:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27377236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fowlbyname45/pseuds/fowlbyname45
Summary: "'Do you need my sweater, Y/n? You still seem cold.'You looked over at him, surprised at his offer but trying to conceal it. 'I mean...no, I'm okay...'He gave you a small smile. 'Are you sure?'"OR;The author decided to write a songfic for Heather by Conan Gray and just rolled with it.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Pansy Parkinson, Draco Malfoy/Reader
Series: Draco Malfoy reader inserts [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1992958
Comments: 4
Kudos: 44





	but you like her better (wish i were heather)

**Author's Note:**

> hi! i wanted to try writing a little bit of angst so here's my practice with that...hope it's passable lmao  
> (in case you didn't know:  
> y/n - your name  
> y/h/c - your hair color)

**_I still remember, third of December_ **

**_Me in your sweater, you said it looked better_ **

**_On me, than it did you, only if you knew_ **

**_How much I liked you_ **

You were in the Slytherin common room with Blaise Zabini, Draco Malfoy, and Daphne Greengrass, attempting to warm up by the fire. A disadvantage to living in the dungeons was that the temperature was always very low, so it was hard to keep comfortable. The four of you were laughing at a joke Blaise made, something about Snape tormenting the Gryffindors that day in Potions, when you let out a small shiver; you got cold easily, and the dying fire wasn’t doing much to help the situation. 

“You cold, Y/n?,” Daphne asked, looking at you a little concernedly. 

“A bit, yeah,” you admitted with a weak chuckle. 

“ _Incendio_ ,” the girl said, aiming her wand at the fireplace. The flames reignited stronger than before, and you smiled at her kind action.

You and the group carried on, now moving on to the topic of the tricky Charms homework due this weekend, when suddenly Draco spoke up.

“Do you need my sweater, Y/n? You still seem cold.”

You looked over at him, surprised at his offer but trying to conceal it. “I mean...no, I’m okay...”

He gave you a small smile. “Are you sure?”

You thought about it. You _were_ still a little cold, and wearing Draco’s sweater was an idea that appealed to you more than you’d like to admit - you had harbored a bit of a crush on him since third year, but no one except Daphne and Blaise knew. 

“Oh alright,” you gave in. “Thanks, Malfoy.”

He nodded and took off his sweater, his uniform button down underneath. You averted your eyes as he did this; even though he obviously had clothes under it, you thought it was the polite thing to do. Plus, your cheeks were burning up and looking directly at him would definitely not help _that_ situation.

Once he was done, you took the sweater - which was really more of a jersey, one for Slytherin Quidditch practices specifically - and pulled it over your head, relishing in the warmth it gave (and how it smells slightly of the boy who had given it to you). 

“Better?,” Daphne asked, looking at you meaningfully with a twinkle in her eye. 

“Much,” you replied, shooting her a look that said “Don’t you dare say anything.”

Blaise chuckled in the corner and you just wanted to sink into the floor; _they were going to make a big deal about this, weren’t they?_

“It looks good on you, Y/n,” Draco commented. “Those jerseys don’t look good on everyone, you know.”

Once again you wanted to sink into the floor, but maybe now it wasn’t such a bad feeling.

**_But I watch your eyes as she walks by_ **

**_What a sight for sore eyes_ **

**_Brighter than the blue sky_ **

**_She’s got you mesmerized_ **

**_While I die_ **

Just then, Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode walked into the common room, probably having just finished a walk around the Black Lake or something of the sort together. Pansy smiled and waved at Draco as she passed, ignoring the rest of your group. She could be like that sometimes. The boy in question smiled back, and you watched his gray eyes follow her as she walked through the room to the girl’s dormitory. Everyone knew Pansy had been after Draco for years, but you had always thought (or maybe hoped) that he didn’t reciprocate her feelings, that he only ever reacted because he liked the attention. Evidently, something had changed between them as he seemed much more interested in her flirtatious behavior today. You tried not to be too upset about this - you really had no right to be, after all - but you still felt a pang in your chest at the thought of them getting together. 

After Pansy had left, Blaise decided to comment on whatever had just happened. “Interested now, eh Draco?,” the boy chortled, raising an eyebrow teasingly. 

“Oh, sod off Zabini,” Draco replied quickly, but you could tell he _was_ interested. You liked to think you knew your fellow Slytherins pretty well, Draco included; for as long as you could remember, you had clung to the outskirts of his little clique, spending a lot of time with Daphne and Blaise and occasionally Theo and Pansy while he spent most of his time with Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy, and Blaise. Obviously, the groups overlapped quite a bit, so you ended up being around each other a lot. You might even consider yourself friends, or at least friendly. All this to say that you knew Draco was more interested in Pansy than before - you could tell by his eyes, by the way he looked at her just now. And it stung more than it should have. 

*****

**_Why would you ever kiss me?_ **

**_I’m not even half as pretty_ **

**_You gave her your sweater_ **

**_It’s just polyester_ **

**_But you like her better_ **

**_Wish I were Heather_ **

A week later, Pansy and Draco were getting closer; they had started sitting closer at meals in the Great Hall and walking to classes together. You didn’t know whether they were officially dating yet or not, and if you were being honest you didn’t know if you _wanted_ to know either way. But one day, you couldn’t stand not knowing any longer, so approached Blaise under the pretense that if anyone would know (besides Draco and Pansy of course, but no way were you asking one of them), it would be him, considering he was one of the boy’s best friends.

“So, um, just out of curiosity, are Pansy and Draco dating? Or is it still up in the air?,” you asked, fighting to keep your voice nonchalant. 

He looked at you with sadness in his eyes. “Well...yeah, I think they are. Draco asked me to leave them alone last Hogsmeade weekend, so…”

Of course. You had been with Daphne and Theo that day, but it all made sense. 

“I’m sorry, Y/n. I know how you feel about him. Just forget about it, okay? He’ll come around one of these days,” Blaise continued, trying valiantly to raise your spirits.

You nodded, a numb feeling taking over your heart, before thanking your friend (who patted your shoulder in a brotherly way) and heading to Transfiguration. 

In the corridor on the way to class, you noticed two familiar people walking in front of you - one with dark hair and one with platinum blonde, the former tied up in a ponytail. Pansy and Draco. You tried to ignore them and the sick feeling you got when you noticed they were holding hands, tried to ignore everything and just keep walking. But just as you were about to look away and pretend you never saw them, you spotted something that made the whole situation so much worse: Pansy was wearing Draco’s sweater, the same Quidditch practice jersey that he had given you to wear by the fire a few weeks prior. You still pointedly ignored what was right in front of you, but the numb feeling you got when Blaise told you they were official was gone. Your vision got blurry and the sick feeling from earlier increased tenfold. But you couldn’t do anything about it now, could you? He was taken. It didn’t matter anymore.

_It didn’t matter, it didn’t matter, it didn’t matter._

*****

**_Watch as she stands with her holding your hand_ **

**_Put your arm ‘round her shoulder, now I’m getting colder_ **

**_But how could I hate her?_ **

**_She’s such an angel_ **

**_But, then again, kinda wish she were dead_ **

The next night, you and some of the Slytherins in your year were working together in the common room. You, Blaise, and Daphne were on the couch, Theo was on one of the large armchairs, and Draco and Pansy were on the other. The pang of jealousy you felt at the sight only worsened when you realized his arm was around her shoulder.

All of you were working on changing your hair color as an assignment for Professor McGonagall. The color you had chosen was a medium shade of blue, but you hadn’t been successful yet as you said the spell with your wand up your head and tried to turn your y/h/c hair a teal color. So far, the only person who had made progress was Daphne, whose normally light tresses were now a deep, very Slytherin-like shade of emerald. 

Just then, Pansy succeeded at the task; her usually dark hair was now bright magenta. Both Blaise and Draco immediately congratulated the girl on her triumph, smiling at her proudly. Theo simply let out an irritated huff at his bad luck, but you decided to smile at Pansy too. You wanted to let her know that you had no hard feelings towards her, in case she had noticed that you’d been acting differently since she started dating Draco (which, in all honesty, she probably hadn’t; she hadn’t paid much attention to anyone but the boy in question since the event anyway). 

“No hard feelings” didn’t mean that you weren’t jealous, however. It still hurt every time you saw them together, and you would be lying if you said you hadn’t wished you could be in her place. But, no matter how much you wanted to hate Pansy, you just _didn’t_. You had known the girl since you were eleven, and even though she could be inconsiderate and was sort of obsessed with the boy beside her, you knew she wasn’t all bad. She had helped you with Transfiguration homework countless times over the years, and even said sweet things to you and Daphne sometimes. On the other hand, there were days you wished she just didn’t exist. But you didn’t hate her, not by any means. In fact, if you hated anyone in these circumstances, it was yourself. You weren’t half as pretty or smart as Pansy, and your family wasn’t part of the Sacred 28 either. It pained you that you’d never amount to her in Draco’s eyes. These may have been complicated feelings, but they were true nonetheless.

**_As she walks by_ **

**_What a sight for sore eyes_ **

**_Brighter than a blue sky_ **

**_She's got you mesmerized_ **

**_While I die_ **

**_Why would you ever kiss me?_ **

**_I’m not even half as pretty_ **

**_You gave her your sweater_ **

**_It’s just polyester_ **

**_But you like her better_ **

**_Wish I were Heather_ **

All of these thoughts about Pansy and Draco had distracted you from the hair color changing assignment; you realized this as you snapped out of your soliloquy and attempted the spell again with your wand up to your head. Just then, you noticed Daphne nudging you urgently.

“What is it?,” you asked, unconcerned but glancing over at her nonetheless.

Her eyes widened as she mouthed “ _Your hair’s blonde_.”

You understood her words and immediately started muttering the counter charm. _Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. “_ Hopefully no one noticed that,” you thought to yourself, but a quick scan of the room told you that probably no one did; everyone was focused on their own work. You let out a quick sigh of relief as something McGonagall had said in her lesson came to you: “Remember to focus completely on the color you’re changing to; if you don’t, it could turn a different shade, one that you have more of an emotional connection to.”

An emotional connection, of course. That must’ve been why you’re hair turned platinum - because of your emotional connection to Draco. Well, that was embarrassing. 

Deciding that you’d had enough for one night, you said, “I’m going to bed, guys. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Daphne smiled at you and replied, “Okay. I’ll be there soon too. Goodnight, Y/n.”

Blaise gave an absent-minded wave but was still focused on his task of changing his hair color, his wand raised to his head. No one else reacted to your words. Not that you expected any of them to, obviously.

Especially not one in particular. 

Once you got to your dormitory, you tried to free your head of these bitter thoughts. After about a half hour of staring up at the dorm ceiling, alone with your musings, you heard Daphne entering the room.

“Hi,” she greeted softly.

“Hi”, you replied, sitting up in bed.

She started getting ready for bed, taking her sleepwear out of her trunk, before speaking again. “I just wanted to say...I’m sorry about Pansy and Draco. That must be hard for you.”

“Not your fault, Daph. It’s okay.”

“How are you dealing with it?”

You considered the question, laying back down in your four-poster as Daphne did the same. “I’m fine. Or, I’ll _be_ fine.”

Your friend hummed in understanding. “Goodnight, Y/n”, she said before closing her eyes.

“Night, Daphne”, you responded. 

And you _would_ be fine. No matter how much it hurt now, no matter how much you wished you could change things, you’d get over it, slowly but surely. 

One thing was certain, however: sweaters were just polyester, and you wouldn’t be putting so much faith in them from now on.

**_Why would you ever kiss me?_ **

**_I’m not even half as pretty_ **

**_You gave her your sweater_ **

**_It’s just polyester_ **

**_But you like her better_ **

**_Wish I were_ **

**_..._ **

**Author's Note:**

> thanks so much for reading!! kudos and comments mean the world to me and give me motivation to write so if you wanna do that that'd be super cool 💚  
> *credit for the hair color changing idea goes to lowlights <3*


End file.
